Military.com reports that "Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has again addressed the controversial issue of U.S. 'boots on the ground' in Iraq and Syria, saying that more American troops would be deployed in an 'enabling role."

"'Boots on the ground? We have 3,500 boots on the ground' in Iraq and 'we're looking for opportunities to do more,' Carter told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland."